In line with recent miniaturization and lightweight trends in electronic devices, the miniaturization and weight reduction have also been required for batteries acting as a power source. Lithium-based secondary batteries have been commercialized as a battery that may be miniaturized, light weighted, and charged to high capacity, and the lithium-based secondary batteries have been used in portable electronic devices, such as small video cameras, mobile phones, and notebooks, and communication devices.
Lithium secondary batteries, as an energy storage device having high energy and power, may be advantageous in that capacities or operating voltages thereof are higher than those of other types of batteries. However, since the safety of the batteries may be problematic due to the high energy, there may be a risk of explosion or fire. In particular, since high energy and output characteristics are required for hybrid vehicles that have recently been in the spotlight, it may be considered that the safety is more important.
In general, a lithium secondary battery is composed of a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte, in which charge and discharge may be possible because lithium ions, which are discharged from a cathode active material by first charging, may act to transfer energy while moving between both electrodes, for example, the lithium ions are intercalated into an anode active material, i.e., carbon particles, and deintercalated during discharging.
Meanwhile, since there is a continuous need for high-capacity batteries due to the development of portable electronic devices, research into high-capacity anode materials, such as tin (Sn) and silicon (Si), which have significantly higher capacity per unit mass than that of carbon that is used as a typical anode material, have been actively conducted. In the case that Si or a Si alloy is used as an anode active material, volume expansion may increase and cycle characteristics may degrade. In order to address the above limitations, the Si or the Si alloy may be mixed with graphite to be used as the anode active material. However, since the graphite may be non-uniformly distributed during the mixing, the cycle characteristics and lifetime may degrade.